rabbits and domestic birds). Staff should be trained to sharpen knife routinely and perform prompt and accurate neck cutting. The origin of a prolonged lairage duration could be in the planning of transport arrival (catching and journey time not well predicted), the planning of the slaughter schedule (too many groups to slaughter at the same time) or in a technical issue (failure in the slaughter process inducing delay). Corneal reflex: The corneal reflex is elicited by touching or tapping the cornea. After some time, rabbits will lose posture, frequently accompanied by jumping or strong movements (which however should not be interpreted as escape attempts). rough handling, use of wrong parameters e.g. ‘Structural’ measures mean infrastructure or facilities required to minimise or eliminate occurrence of hazards or minimise suffering in rabbits. There is no corrective measure for this hazard. In this case, the sensitivity is the percentage of dead animals that the indicator correctly identifies as dead. It was used in some EU countries before enforcement of the Council Regulation and it is presented in a limited number of research papers (Hattingh et al., 1986; Llonch et al., 2012; Nakyinsige et al., 2014; Dalmau et al., 2016). This does not occur when the electrodes are mounted on the ceiling (see Figure 7) where the rabbit body is supported with one hand and the other hand placed on its back to secure it in position for stunning (Figure 7). when rabbits are ineffectively stunned or when rabbits recover consciousness and, when the state of consciousness is not properly monitored at key stages and. Specificity (Sp) was the most important aspect governing the selection of indicators of death (in order of decreasing width of the uncertainty interval). From all of the above indicators, vocalisations seem to be the only practical one in the slaughterhouse. Use humane methods of slaughter. Possible indicators in the slaughter house situation are: Therefore, possible indicators in the slaughter situation are: Example of a graph that was used to select the most relevant parameters. Scheduling of slaughter should also include contingency plans to prioritise slaughter of animals on the basis that holding them in lairage for any longer would lead to further suffering. poultry, EFSA developed a Scientific Opinion on ‘the monitoring procedures at slaughter for poultry’ (EFSA AHAW Panel, 2013d) where indicators for consciousness have been selected based on their specificity and sensitivity, and have been included in ‘toolboxes’ specific for the identified scenarios. This phase includes bleeding of the rabbits following stunning (to induce death of stunned animals), and bleeding during slaughter of rabbits without stunning. young ones, etc.) In addition, pain can be indirectly assessed by scoring the injuries. Effective stunning leads to a brain state that is incompatible with this (EFSA, 2004). Additionally, the absence of heartbeat and dilated pupils can be used. However, when considering a global perspective, the experts were 95–99% certain that at least one welfare hazard is missing. Ten welfare consequences occurring to rabbits during the processes of slaughtering have been identified by the experts. In toolbox 2, the key indicators for monitoring effective stunning at the time of neck cutting are corneal or palpebral reflex, breathing and righting reflex. You’ll find a heavy object or club and hit the rabbit over the head really hard. In addition, spontaneous blinking and vocalisation can be used, but it should not be relied upon solely. increased flexibility of the skin due to insufficient tension) (Von Holleben et al., 2010). However, the righting reflex may not be observed reliably because the animal is manually restrained in an upright position. An interaction exists when several factors are contributing to the same welfare consequence. Therefore, effectively stunned animals should have both carotid arteries cut as soon as possible, but within 10 s (European Commission, 2018). We know they like to jump, run and find hiding places. The welfare status of rabbits should be assessed at each phase of slaughtering to mitigate negative welfare consequences. wetting of the heads, selecting materials and design that offers least electrical resistance). Optimal climatic conditions for rabbits would be: air temperature 13–20°C (average 15°C) and relative humidity 55–65% (average 60%) (Marai and Rashwan, 2004; Voslarova et al., 2018). for the different phases of the stunning process), or merged, when no differences were obtained during the discussion. heat stress, cold stress, prolonged thirst and restriction of movement), others are specific to the stunning phase (consciousness) and others can apply in all phases (pain, fear, distress). The irregular movements and increased force on the legs can lead to painful compression and a fear response. At the abattoir, animals were unloaded almost immediately (the average waiting time before unloading was 4.5 min) (Buil et al., 2004). A review by Buil et al. Petracci et al. voltage, current, frequency, waveforms) fail to achieve epileptiform activity in the brain. A good design, layout and construction of the plant is considered a prerequisite to safeguard the welfare of rabbits. COLUMN ‘PREVENTIVE MEASURE/S OF THE HAZARD’: depending on the origin/s of the hazard, several measures are proposed to prevent the hazard. Description: Staff rotation is a management policy in which employees are moved between two or more tasks to avoid boredom and fatigue. An indicator is considered to be 100% specific if it detects all live animals as alive. The space allowance is directly linked to the stocking density in containers, which is usually expressed in number of animals, area (cm2) per kg body weight or live weight in kg/m2. In the case of intermittent contact, the electrical contact is interrupted, and hence, the desired flow of current through the brain is not achieved. In cold and humid environmental conditions with high wind speed, the perceived temperature will decrease rapidly. Processes of slaughtering to which it applies: head‐only electrical stunning. Therefore, this opinion will focus on the killing of rabbits for human consumption which could take place in a slaughter plant or during on‐farm slaughter, from the arrival until the animal is dead (including slaughter without stunning). In case of 30 min at 20.0°C, the rectal temperature of kits drops from 37.7°C to 32.7°C (Cardasis and Sinclair, 1972). Consciousness is a prerequisite for experiencing welfare consequences, and can be caused by ineffective stunning or when animals are recovering consciousness after stunning. (2012) reported a higher percentage of rabbits gasping when exposed to 90% CO2 than to 80% N2 and 20% CO2 (97 vs. 42%). no protection from the environment (e.g. They are presented below, with reference to the original requests in the EP and EC mandates. WP1. de Jong et al. Definition: Inversion is a restraining method used during percussive blow that involves holding the rabbit in an upside‐down position. Dirt (e.g. frontal–parietal bones, induces brain concussion and immediate loss of consciousness. The methodology involves indicator selection based on their ease of use, their specificity and their sensitivity. Caucci et al. During non‐penetrative captive bolt stunning, rabbits will be exposed to pain and fear due to incorrect handling during manual restraint and consciousness leading to pain and fear, if incorrect shooting position and angle, incorrect bolt diameter, incorrect bolt velocity or prolonged stun to stick interval occur. According to Cavani and Petracci (2004), rabbits lose 3–6% of body weight during the first 12 h of fasting. Regarding facilities and equipment: the machine should be settled correctly to avoid excessive noise and the facilities should be noise proofed. The ease of use was assessed for each key stage by the experts and is expressed by different colours (green = easy, orange = moderate, red = difficult). Secondly, only methods currently used for slaughter of rabbits as well as those still in development (but likely to become commercially applicable) were included. food business operators or researchers), competence (e.g. It also describes welfare indicators for all phases of the slaughter process (relevant for the European Commission mandate), including indicators for the stunning phase (relevant for both mandates). Two additional indicators may also be used. From the available literature and their own knowledge, the WG experts identified the processes that should be included in the assessment and produced a list containing the possible welfare hazards of each process. In addition to this, the electrodes must be cleaned at regular intervals using a wire brush to facilitate good electrical contact. The flow charts allowed decisions to be taken on whether to proceed at the three key stages in the slaughter process. Train the staff to adequately severe the carotids. The containers should be located as close as possible to the point of stunning. When the temperature rises above 30°C, the feed intake of rabbits decreases, which can decrease weight gain in growing rabbits and milk production of does as well as milk intake of kits. The outcome tables related to each process are reported in Section 3.10 (Tables 26 and 27). Description: Mental or physiological suffering due to increased CO2 levels or to lack of O2 resulting in forced breathing, breathlessness or air hunger. It is also advisable to ensure that the doors of the waiting area are properly closed. In fact, it is suggested that rabbits voluntary huddle (de Jong et al., 2011). The pre‐stunning phase includes four processes: arrival, unloading of containers from the truck, lairage, handling and removing of rabbits from the containers. The Commission requested EFSA to review the scientific publications provided and possibly other sources to provide a sound scientific basis for the future discussions at international level on the welfare of animals in the context of: For every process or issue in each category, EFSA will: The EC mandate does not specify which specific stunning and killing systems need to be included in this analysis, and the EC wants to use this opinion to address the OIE standards. In practice, this may apply to all rabbits during the pre‐stunning phase. From here onwards, this opinion will refer and respond to these TORs. Time of food deprivation is important because it affects animal welfare. These measures will involve two main categories: 1) structural and 2) managerial (ToR3). Correctly, stunned animals will not show a palpebral reflex. incorrect shooting position (ToR‐3). Enter your email address below and we will send you your username, If the address matches an existing account you will receive an email with instructions to retrieve your username, The Union adopted in 2009 Council Regulation (EC) No 1099/2009. Moreover, feed can be removed before rabbits are caught and crated on the farm to allow time for the evacuation of the intestinal contents. exposure to too high CO2 concentration), and other hazards originate from suboptimal application of the method, mainly due to unskilled staff (e.g. (2009) examined 1,020 crossbreed rabbits to evaluate their welfare during electrical stunning and slaughter in a commercial abattoir in Italy, they showed that electrodes were incorrectly applied to 10.8% of the rabbits. Behavior and use of space in fattening rabbits as influenced by cage size and enrichment, Critical points in the transport of commercial rabbits to slaughter in Spain that could compromise animals’ welfare, The effects of ambient temperature on the fasted newborn rabbit. Conscious animals do not show tonic/clonic seizures. The good maintenance of the facility and the equipment will allow to have a forklift functioning smoothly on an even floor that will lead to proper handling. In Sections 3.1–3.3, the relevant slaughter processes are described in three parts. Effective CAS stunned will show complete loss of muscle tone if exposed long enough to the gas concentration and convulsive movements have ceased. Ten welfare consequences resulting from the hazards that rabbits can be exposed to during slaughter are identified: consciousness, animal not dead, thermal stress (heat or cold stress), prolonged thirst, prolonged hunger, restriction of movements, pain, fear, distress and respiratory distress. At arrival, when there is a too high effective temperature animal should be protected from the sun or unloaded immediately from the truck. The blow is delivered with an iron rod, pipe or a wooden club, with sufficient force to render the animal immediately unconscious due to brain concussion. fractures, bone dislocations and open wounds. Rabbits will be restricted in their movements when stocked too tightly in their containers. Research has shown that the time to return of spontaneous breathing in head‐only electrically stunned rabbit was 22 s (Anil et al., 2000) and an EU‐wide survey of best practices in rabbit slaughterhouses indicated that maximum stun‐to‐stick interval is 10 s, exceptionally 20 s in one slaughterhouse (European Commission, 2017). For the other indicators, the specificity and sensitivity were judged only once for all key stages. The use of animal‐based indicators can be regarded in the same way as the use of a diagnostic test with either a positive or negative outcome. A small group of experts was invited to an EKE workshop where the information about sensitivity and specificity of the indicators was elicited by asking respondents to estimate, for each indicator, the proportion of truly conscious and the proportion of truly unconscious animals that would be considered conscious, based on the outcome of the indicator. A corrective measure is only available for the hazard ‘incomplete sectioning of carotids’ (ToR‐3), and involves repeating the cut. Uneven floors and faulty or poorly maintained equipment, such as forklifts, used in the movement of containers are prone to tipping or tilting of containers, potentially resulting in serious welfare consequences. As it can be seen in Figure 6, poor design of the electrode and/or wrong positioning of the head may result in the eyes of rabbits being injured (physical damage and sometimes rupture of the eyeball) before the onset of unconsciousness. Cessation of bleeding is the indicator that has the highest sensitivity and specificity and is easy to use, whereas the other four indicators are either less sensitive/specific or difficult to recognise. ** In this sense, these methods induce momentary loss of consciousness, and therefore, the onus of preventing recovery of consciousness following stunning relies solely on the prompt and accurate neck cutting, i.e. Finally, a third section with a brief description of the key points for the assessment of rabbit welfare was also included. in the case of ‘neck cutting’) (ToR‐3). The captive bolt should be placed at the intersection of lines drawn from the lateral canthus of each eye to the opposite ear, perpendicular to the skull bones. Firstly, the question of what practices are suitable or acceptable cannot be answered by scientific risk assessment, but rather involves e.g. Definition: The bolt parameters fail to provoke an effective stun and render rabbits unconscious. Catching and robust restraint of conscious animals for neck cutting causes pain, fear and distress, especially when animals are hung upside‐down by the legs in shackles. ‘Management’ measures mean decisions to be made or resources to be put in place by personnel with responsibility or legal obligation for animal welfare. It is very likely that other monogastric animals experience these phases. The ease of use of an indicator is considered in relation to physical aspects of its assessment. It is calculated as the number of truly conscious animals considered conscious based on the outcome of the indicator (A in Table B.1) divided by the total number of truly conscious animals (A + C), multiplied by 100. The Beta distribution was used to calculate the median and 90% uncertainty range of the common judgement. Is manually restrained in an upright position flow charts allowed decisions to be taken on whether to at... 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